King Charles Ayemi-Botu, aka Lion of the Niger, is the Paramount Ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State and 1^st elected National CHM of TROMPCON and now Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT). In this interview, Ayemi-Botu prescribes the panacea to a sustainable presidential system of government among issues of public importance. Excerpts:

How has it been since ascending the throne of your forefathers and what are the challenges thus far?

I was enthroned as the Paramount Ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom on April 2, 1994 (29 years ago) and it has been very eventful and epoch-making and I unequivocally give all the glory for my earthly sojourn to the Almighty God. Traditionally, monarchs are apolitical and do not delve into politics except when we exercise our traditional advisory roles in ensuring peaceful coexistence, security and development in our various domains, state level and the country in general. Naturally, man is a political animal but, unfortunately, the revised military indoctrinated 1999 Constitution doesn’t specify role for us and we are being relegated to the lowest ebb such that even in order of protocol in public functions, local government chairmen are recognized before traditional rulers. This is absurd and awkward but that’s Nigeria where anything goes.

What is your perspective on the current economic, political, social and security challenges in the country?

Nigeria, like the popular saying, is God’s own country and is naturally endowed with abundant natural and human resources but we are bereft of patriotic, transparent, humane, selfless and responsible leaders that have the interest of the country above their parochial and self-serving interest, be it military or civilian dispensation, and that has been the cankerworm destroying the country. It’s an assumed policy of political leaders to jettison their campaign manifestos as soon as they are sworn into office and turn the governance of the state or country to a family business to amass humongous wealth arising from crude oil proceeds. To achieve their unenviable greed and brazen corrupt practices, they resort to nepotism, ethno-religious sentiment and winner-takes-all.

We all are witnessing the inalienable fact that the two major ruling ethnic groups in the country have been turning the pendulum to their advantage by appointing their kinsmen to juicy offices, giving out oil blocs for eight years and it will be reverted subsequently by the successor. It was only former President Goodluck Jonathan that was used as an errand boy to the detriment of his minority region while the two other ethnic groups called the shots. Since the end of military rule in 1999 about 24 years ago, Nigerians have passed through hell in terms of maladministration, brazen insecurity, killings through killer herdsmen, banditry, Boko Haram, abnormal hikes in the prices of petroleum products, dwindling power supply, naira losing its value and the people being in penury and squalor and Nigeria ostensibly in a near state of extinction.

So what is the way out of these challenges?

The way out is to imbibe the wise counseling of the famous and indelible words as contained in the inaugural speech of the late President of the America, Mr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. That is the greatest challenge to all those Nigerians jostling for political offices in the country. He who comes into equity must come with clean hands. After 63 years of independence, Nigerians are still grappling with credible, patriotic, transparent, selfless and all encompassing leaders bereft of greed, those that will not only be President but also Minister of Petroleum Resources to hold sway the economic livewire of the nation.

How do you see the clamor for true federalism? Will it solve our problems as a nation?

Nigeria jettisoned the parliamentary system initiated by her former colonial master – Britain – and copied the presidential system of government from the United States of America without the rules of federalism that should ordinarily go along with it one of which says states should manage their resources. Recall that in the 50s, agro-economy was the main economy of Nigeria and the principle of derivation was 50/50, half to the regions and the balance to the Federal Government. There were three regions: North producing groundnut and cotton; the East, palm produce, coal etc and the West, cocoa, rubber and there were competitive developmental strides in all the regions without recourse to the Federal Government. The multi-storey Cocoa House, WNTV/WNBS, the first in Africa etc and University of Ibadan were among the gains of the era while the North had multi-storey Hamdala Hotels, Ahmadu Bello University etc and the East had the coalmine in Enugu, Onitsha Market and University of Nsukka. But when the black gold was struck at Oloibiri in 1956 and rose to commercial quantity, the principle of 50% derivation was thrown to the wind and with the emergence of the Nigeria – Biafra War, General Gowon (retd), then-Head of State, used the proceeds from crude oil to execute the war. They people of the Niger Delta, the producers of the black gold, could not benefit from the 50% derivation fund but got paltry 13% courtesy of the late General Sani Abacha. They were shortchanged due to the powers-that-be and man’s inhumanity to man. The panacea to a sustainable presidential system of government is to adhere to the tenets of true fiscal federalism as practiced in the developed countries like the US and, until we do that, Nigeria will be drifting to extinction due to greed, avarice, inept corruption and winner-takes-all syndrome.

There is an overwhelming feeling that there is an Islamization agenda that is being pursued by government that creates fear or concern to us as a nation. How do you see to that?

Mr. John Campbell, a former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, in 2004, having seen the catastrophic road Nigeria was heading, opined, “Nigeria Dancing on the Brink”. Very well, you have already stated that there is an overwhelming feeling about Nigeria being Islamized, what else do you want me to say? Have you forgotten that Nigeria is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)? What led to the Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe saga? A very precarious situation where a retired military brass cried out profusely in a video clip that went viral, accusing both the military and the people in high places that the country was under siege by foreign killer-herdsmen rampaging, confiscating, slaughtering hapless farmers in their hundreds in one day in Benue State and forcefully taking possession of farm lands in the South-East and South-West. Simultaneously we had banditry, kidnapping, hostage-taking and the hydra-headed Boko Haram, ISWAP, Al-Magreb, you name it. That is the pathetic, deplorable and unpredictable state of affairs Nigerians have been overwhelmed with, due to inept, nonchalant, passive and I-don’t-care attitude of the powers-that-be. It is absolute charade. If very drastic, unbiased measures are not taken promptly to forestall this ill-wind, then Nigeria and indeed Nigerians are heading to total disintegration.

How can Nigeria’s diversity be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us?

To harness Nigeria’s diversity in an all-inclusive manner to achieve greater heights and sustainable development is a mirage and indeed a triangle that will be very difficult to straighten. The problems Nigerians are contending with are traceable to the British colonial masters through Sir Lord Frederick Lugard, then governor-general of both the Northern and Southern Protectorates and Lagos Colony, amalgamated on January 1, 1914 during which a treaty was signed for 100 years of British rule consolidating the two protectorates to one and the colony of Lagos and 46 years later in 1960, Nigeria had her independence from colonial era. Intelligence reports from the archives in Nigeria and England show that the name Nigeria was coined by Lord Frederick Lugard’s wife, Flora, because the great River Niger had its source in the Futa Jalon Hills in Timbuktu in present day Mali and flows through the country, Baro, Lokoja, Onitsha and terminates in the Delta. Intriguingly, the problematic 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates that was written by the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the United Kingdom, Mr. Lewis Vernon Harcourt, as directed by the governor-general, Sir Lord Lugard, was taken to England by Mr. Harcourt whom Sir Lugard compensated by naming the port city to Port-Harcourt. But, the multi-billion naira questions clamoring for response are: Who are the Nigerians who signed the treaty with Sir Lord Lugard and where is our copy? The so-called problematic treaty expired after 100 years (1914 to 2014). Hence, in my interview with Vanguard in 2012, I urged former President Goodluck Jonathan to convoke a Sovereign National Conference to deliberate and redefine our destiny as a nation but I was quickly rebuffed as it may affect his presidency. Perhaps, it later dawned on him to convene a National Conference at the twilight of his tenure in 2014 but his successor has no business to implement it as it was counter-productive to his policies and programs of eight years of abysmal rulership. It’s quite obvious that nine years after the expiration of the treaty and 63 years of Nigeria’s independence, the best bet is for the incoming administration to convoke a Sovereign National Conference of all ethnic nationalities to redefine the way forward, politically, socially and economically. It’s only then Nigeria will be given her pride of place in the comity of nations.

How do you see to the state of the Niger Delta at the moment? And what would you advise the in-coming administration to do on the Niger-Delta?

The Niger Delta nay the Ijaw who are the fourth largest population in Nigeria and balkanised along the coastal belt with their harsh and dreaded terrain are the geographical hub that Nigeria rests on and God, in His infinite mercies, richly blessed the region, as the economic livewire of the country, with abundant natural resources but, unfortunately, belongs to the minority region and denied by the major ethnic groups with the acronym WAZOBIA and all the accruing wealth is stashed away to develop the West or the North and the resultant agitation by youths and leaders provided some succor vis-à-vis the establishment of the defunct OMPADEC which later metamorphosed to NDDC, and the 13% paltry Derivation Fund as against the 50% when agro-economy was the order of the day. However, there are discerning voices of gross mismanagement of funds accruing to the oil producing states by the governors even as the Federal Government is under pressure to pay the Derivation Fund directly to host communities who are directly impacted by water pollution and destruction of the ecosystem. (Sunday Vanguard: Text, Excluding Headline)

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